Bruxism is the condition of nocturnal teeth grinding which afflicts many people and which is widely considered to be a psychological stress reaction. The condition produces abnormal wear of the molar teeth of the afflicted person and is a source of annoyance and disturbance to anyone who sleeps in the near vicinity of such a person.
Several devices have been patented which were designed to relieve the condition of bruxism. Among such devices are the Samelson inventions, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,169,473 and 4,304,227. These inventions consist of molded devices designed to be inserted into the mouth of a person who experiences snoring and bruxism during sleep. The object of these inventions is to prevent nocturnal teeth grinding by means of an intervening physical barrier and to prevent snoring by means of forced nasal breathing.
Another device, the Ober invention, U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,477 is an electronic instrument which operates by detecting electromyographic signal voltages from the mandibular musculature during bruxing. The device then imparts an electrical stimulation to the jaw of the bruxing person, which stimulation is intended to cause the jaw muscles to relax and allow the jaw to open. The Ober disclosure does not, however, reveal how said stimulation will selectively stimulate the particular muscle fibers that cause the jaw to open rather than resulting in the tonus of all the muscle fibers in the region of the stimulation.
These devices have obvious shortcomings in both design and effect, some of which are overcome by the relative simplicity of the present invention which uses the principle of bone conduction to activate an alarm signal which then develops a conditioned reflex to interrupt the bruxing pattern with a minimum of mental or physical intrusion.